Your Love is All I Have
by PhoenixRae
Summary: **Ch02 UP!** After 6 yrs a familiar face surfaced once more in Draco's somewhat stabled albeit troubled life. Could she be whom he thought she could be? (D/Herm) PLS R
1. Chapter I: Deja Vu

**Disclaimer:** NOT MINE! Although I wish they were, but alas, I only own the right to plot idea & some of the OC you'll read about here 

**Summary:** Six yrs ago they almost married, but a freak accident caused one of them their life. Six years later Draco Malfoy was a hired hitman working under his father's orders. LDM Software Inc was a cover-up for their headquarters. A familiar face soon surfaced around the office who reminded Draco of that lost love of his; could she be whom he thought she was or was she just a product of his imagination? 

**Rating:** PG-13 for starters but will probably go up as we go along 

**Pairing:** Draco Malfoy & Hermione Granger 

**Setting:** almost 7 years after Hogwarts 

**Author's Note:** this is a different take of mine for yet another Draco/Hermione fic. Normally I would be writing about romantic/humorous D/Hrm pairing, but for this one I chose to differ, hope you enjoy it. 

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**I. Déjà Vu **

Mackenzie Jones was in high spirits as she made her way through the classy marbled flooring lobby of LDM Software Inc building. It was her first day at her brand new job after working as a waitress at a trendy popular diner in downtown London for the past three years, she was glad she landed a job in the field she spent the last two years pouring her time to master. 

It was a typical slow-paced Monday morning at LDM (or at least she hoped it was always like this). People were just getting started on their day at the office, flagging down the person inside the elevator to hold the door open for him or her. Mackenzie didn't particularly mind being left on the lobby to wait for the next elevator to arrive. She didn't have to start until 9:00 am and it was only 8:30 am—she had a good 30 minutes to spare before she started work. 

Mackenzie was busy checking her reflection on the closed steel elevator doors. She was busy making sure that her choice of wardrobe for today looked presentable enough that she didn't notice someone had joined her in line waiting for the elevators to arrive. 

She chose to wear a charcoal grey knee-length skirt that had a small slit at the back for ample leg movement and topped it with a cream-coloured silk blouse that had a flattering neckline. She wore a two-inch high pumps and pulled her rich, long, curly hair highlighted with various shades of blond that intertwined with her natural brown colour. She wore very little make-up today and used one of those longer lasting Cover Girl lipstick so she wouldn't have to bother retouching her lipstick for the rest of the day. She wasn't a vain woman to begin with; she only wanted to make a good impression her co-workers hence why she went through this small trouble to get dressed real nice for her first day on the job. 

"Whomever you're trying to impress, I reckon you will knock 'em dead," drawled an eerily familiar male voice just over her left shoulder. 

Mackenzie jumped at the unexpected comment from the stranger. She slowly turned her head and found herself staring at a broad chest hugged by an expensive looking navy blue shirt. She moved her gaze up slowly until her big, almond-shaped brown eyes collided with a pair of cold bluish-grey eyes that made her suck in her breath. Those eyes…they looked so damn familiar and at the same time almost alien to her. 

It couldn't be him. It had been six years since she last saw him; he wasn't much of a Muggle lover to begin with, and he didn't particularly liked her Muggle heritage. _But he loved you all the same,_ a voice inside her head reminded her. 

Of course he loved her; and she loved him too, but their love for one another wasn't enough to keep them safe and together. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Draco Malfoy stood in front of the attractive young woman with expressive brown eyes that reminded him so much of Hermione's. Even her mannerism was very much alike with his ex-girlfriend that he thought he was seeing her again. 

It had been six years since Hermione perished along with her parents the car her father was driving after picking her up at Kings Cross was hit by a truck and exploded, killing the Grangers immediately. He heard the disturbing news of Hermione's untimely demise when he returned back to Hogwarts after the Christmas holiday. 

Dumbledore made the announcement at dinnertime, casting an ugly grey cloud over everyone's heads—except for the Slytherin students, of course. He glanced at the Gryffindor table and noted Potter and the Weasley siblings' absence from the feast. The Hogwarts headmaster had quite a few announcements that night, but Draco was no longer paying attention to him. He was shocked and deeply saddened by the news, but he couldn't show emotion in front of his housemates; nobody knew about him and Hermione. Only Potter and Weasley were the ones who were aware of his relationship with her, but they weren't pleased about the pairing. 

_Ding!_

The elevator came to a stop at the main floor lobby. Its steel doors quietly sliding open. The dinging snapped Draco out of his quick trip down memory lane. He glared at the empty elevator and with précised swift movement he reached over the young woman and held the door open before it slid close once again. Looking back at the young woman who reminded him so much of Hermione, he raised an eyebrow and barked, "Are you getting in?" 

Mackenzie snapped out of her trance and blinked twice to focus her attention on the smirking spiky-haired brownish-blond with intense bluish-grey eyes. What he asked finally registered in her somewhat clouded brain and quickly stepped in to the waiting elevator, standing closest to the doors. 

"Which floor?" she asked after the man stepped in and let the doors close after him. 

"Don't even bother. Just press the floor you wanted to get off on, don't worry about me," he replied curtly. 

His outright rudeness made Mackenzie raise an eyebrow, but she didn't bother saying anything. She punched in the floor she wanted to get off on and kept her back to the blond stranger. He was oozing with a lot of her ex-boyfriend's charm _and_ nasty attitude that he got to her in the same annoying way, but this man in the elevator with her couldn't be the notorious playboy she knew from years before. 

For starters, he wouldn't be seen wearing regular Muggle clothing nor would he be caught using Muggle technology as a means of transportation. Secondly, he wouldn't be caught dead wandering about Muggle London for that matter! 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Draco did his best to forget about the curly haired brunette with blond highlights he met this morning, but he couldn't stop comparing her to Hermione. The striking resemblance of the young woman to his former girlfriend was uncanny; they even had the same stubborn set of their jaw that Draco found it so damn unbelievable to comprehend! 

He wanted to ask her what her name was, but he quickly stopped himself before he did something out of character. She got off on the secretarial pool on the eighth floor and he never saw her again. 

As soon as he got off the eighteenth floor where his office was housed he had been bombarded with loads of paperwork and non-stop set of board meetings (both software company related and Lucius-type of business related). 

Helene, his Muggle PA, held the fort steadily when running the business front while he was ensconced in the secret meeting room charmed by Lucius himself to keep off prying eyes from wandering. His with PA, Luella, sat through the entire meeting taking down notes for Draco to read through later. He rarely paid attention to whatever was going on during his meetings with his father and his legions of followers and cohorts; he was only there to do a job, that was all there was to it. 

Lucius was sending him off on another 'assignment'. He was to assassinate a former follower of Voldemort who double-crossed them during the former Dark Lord's campaign to rise back to power. The man he had to kill was going under an alias and living with Muggles. 

Draco hated this other job of his. He wanted to quit so many times, but he couldn't, not when Lucius Malfoy was holding his son's life in his hands. One foot out of line and another one close to Draco would die. He couldn't risk another innocent losing his or her life because of him. He knew Hermione's death wasn't an accident; it had Lucius' hand all over it. 

He ordered for Hermione to be killed so his son wouldn't marry a Muggle-born—a _mudblood_—and taint the Malfoy line. 

Draco had been contemplating on ways of making his father pay for what he did, but while he abide his time he kept p appearances; following Lucius' orders and running the software company he initially started with the sole intent of using it as an escape from Lucius. He studied amongst Muggles to learn enough about computers and start up his own business. Hermione talked about computers a lot during their time together and it fascinated him. She promised to teach him how to operate one once they were married, but that promise was botched when Hermione was killed. 

To honour his late fiancée, Draco studied computers as soon as he was out of Hogwarts. Lucius didn't know his son was taking Muggle courses during his spare time, and once Draco had enough money saved (Lucius was _paying_ him for ever hit he made), he opened up his own software business. Lucius heard about this through one of his millions of spies and was appalled that his son wanted to associate himself with mudbloods (he flinched now whenever Lucius used that term). 

Lucius wanted to tear down his son's business right from the start, but an inquest at the Ministry made him think otherwise. He was being watched by ministry people since the fall of Voldemort; none of those damn Ministry of Magic personnel trusted him after it was revealed that he himself was one of Lord Voldemort's number one follower. Lucius decided to use Draco's company as a front to hold secret meetings between him and former Death Eaters who were still die-hard followers of the fallen Dark Lord. Draco refused his father's _order_ to have a special room on the top floor of his office building be charmed and serve as the private meeting place for former Death Eaters to convene whenever a problem arises; he said it was even more convenient for his son to attend _every meeting_ they had since he wouldn't have to apparate from work—all he had to do was disappear through an invisible door and he would be with them during those numerous meetings Lucius called every damn day. 

"Mr. Malfoy," Helene Peters, his leggy mid-twenties PA, bustled into his office carrying a small stack of brown manila folders in her arms, "We have a crisis. I tried to keep it afloat, but it just went berserk!" she dropped the folders on Draco's glass desk and braced her hands on either side of it, her brown eyes locking with his bluish-grey ones. "One of your buyers in Hamburg complained we chipped them a software with a virus while another buyer of ours in Prague received the wrong program that he ordered. And to top it all off, our regular buyer in Edmonton is demanding a _full_ reimbursement because our latest business software shipped off to them crashed their entire system!" when she finally paused for breath Draco jumped in and asked, 

"Have you sent them our top programmers to fix these problems?" 

"That's where it gets tricky," his PA gnawed on her lower lip. 

Draco raised an eyebrow. He didn't like it when Helene gave him a negative reply. 

"What do you mean?" his tone was chillingly cold, any intern would cower away at the sound of it matched with his icy glare, but Helene was already used to her boss' temper and was no longer intimidated by him. 

"All three of our buyers wants to meet with _you_ personally to discuss their problems with our products," she replied calmly. 

"When?" 

"All meetings are to be held within this week." 

"What?" Draco looked displeased. Damn Muggle businessmen! His father wanted him to do the job of disposing a certain Rev Snyder this week; he couldn't be in all three meetings with his clients! 

Helene straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest, "Seems like you're in demand, Mr. Malfoy." 

"Yeah, no shit," he mumbled and leaned back in his chair. 

"So, whom do you want me to set up a meeting with first?" she asked. 

"Who do you think had the biggest disaster in their hands right now?" 

Helene pursed her lips and looked at the files she dropped on Draco's desk. "I say our buyer in Edmonton should be top priority." 

Draco thought back to what he just discussed with his father. His target was hiding in Canada—the exact whereabouts of Rev Snyder still cloudy to him, but Luella wrote down the exact location of his target—he could probably mix both business at once, but he would need an assistant to help him out when he was indispose. He couldn't take Helene; he needed someone very efficient to run the company while he was away. 

"Good call, Helene," he agreed, "Set up a meeting with our Edmonton client for Thursday—let _him_ pick the time. Send two of our best men to fix the screw-up in Hamburg and Prague then set up a meeting with them for Friday and Saturday—I should be able to close any deals with our Edmonton client before nightfall on Thursday so I'd be able to fly to Hamburg then Prague," he sat up straight and grabbed the files on his desk, studying each one carefully then added, "I also want a list of your best assistants that could leave the country on short notice. God knows I'll be needing one when dealing with these blasted clients of ours." 

Helene didn't question Draco's orders. She just nodded and did what he said. If there was one thing Draco Malfoy was good at, it had to be dealing with snarky customers who were after their blood when a certain deal went wrong. 

==================== 

**PhoenixRae's Notes:** well, what do you guys think of this one? It's been a while since I tried my hand writing a Draco/Hermione story and this idea just came to me while I was busy doing nothing at work & I knew I had to write it down or go crazy with this idea swimming about in my head. Anyways, don't forget to review and let me know what you think, thanks! 


	2. Chapter II: Short Notice Assistant

**Disclaimer:** NOT MINE! Although I wish they were, but alas, I only own the right to plot idea & some of the OC you'll read about here 

**Summary:** Six yrs ago they almost married, but a freak accident caused one of them their life. Six years later Draco Malfoy was a hired hitman working under his father's orders. LDM Software Inc was a cover-up for their headquarters. A familiar face soon surfaced around the office who reminded Draco of that lost love of his; could she be whom he thought she was or was she just a product of his imagination? 

**Rating:** PG-13 for starters but will probably go up as we go along 

**Pairing:** Draco Malfoy & Hermione Granger 

**Setting:** almost 7 years after Hogwarts 

**Author's Note:** thank you so far to all those who read and reviewed my fic. I might be slow in updating since I have other stories to work on, but I'll do my best to update as often as I can.

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**II. Short-Notice Assistant **

Mackenzie was surprised when Helene Peters, the woman who hired her and the one person who was in direct contact to the CEO of LDM Software Inc (aside from the other department heads, of course), called her to her office for an impromptu meeting. Mackenzie was just about to start her lunch when her name was broadcast through the office intercom.

Louisa, Marion, Victoria, and Madeline all turned to their newest friend with their eyebrows raised questioningly. Mackenzie was just a newcomer and today was her first day at work, _why_ would Helene Peters be calling her up to her office when only half of the day had gone? 

"Am I in trouble, you think?" Mackenzie asked nervously, looking from one co-worker to the other. 

"How could you be in trouble, Mac? You just started here!" exclaimed uppity Louisa. 

"Yeah. Maybe Helene just forgot to discuss some things with you when she hired you," said Victoria, the quietest person of the quartet. 

"Don't worry, Mackenzie, Helene doesn't bite—_unless_ you stepped way out of line," friendly Marion patted Mackenzie's arm as she rose from her seat, "But I'm sure you haven't done anything out of bounds yet considering today is your first day at work," she added when Mackenzie still looked doubtful. 

Mackenzie gave her four newfound friends one of her numerous courageous smiles and excused herself to go meet with Helene. As she waited for the elevator doors to open, Mackenzie mentally replayed the events of the morning. She had done everything that was asked of her to do, and she did everything she was told to do as well, so _what_ could be the reason why Helene Peters wanted to see her? 

Finally the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside, punching the number to the eighteenth floor and did a quick breathing exercise to calm her suddenly raging nerves. She couldn't be fired on her first day of working at her new job! She didn't do anything wrong and if Helene Peters thought something was fishy in her résumé because she left a not-so-huge chunk of her education blank (she couldn't include in her résumé that from the time she was eleven until she was seventeen she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), but that was hardly relevant to what she had accomplished _after_ junior high and high school! She studied at a post-secondary school in London for two damn years wanting to get a degree and leave the diner. She graduated in top of her class and so far she has had no complaints whatsoever from the people she did her job training with for her final mark in her course. 

When the steel doors slid open on the eighteenth floor, Mackenzie was rendered speechless at the magnificence of the executive floor. She has heard from the other girls who were fortunate enough to be asked to go up here how beautiful and luxurious it was, and they weren't lying! 

Expensive ebony and ivory marbled flooring alternately tiled to offer a classic hint of class. Marbled granite pillars, large green plants providing another colour thrown in to a somewhat classic black and white décor. From the elevator doors to the floor-to-ceiling glass partition Mackenzie walked, noting that it was a very large and well-kept reception area. The carpet was expensive, she knew that, and had the loveliest shade of royal blue. There were couches on either side of the reception with side tables filled with reading materials—from magazines to pamphlets to the office newsletter. Then at the center of the room stood an octagonal-shaped reception desk. It was so tall that the person who was behind it couldn't be seen—not even her head was visible at the height of the damn desk unless you stepped up closer and lean against it to see her. 

Mackenzie did just that and was surprised to find that instead of the usual _female_ receptionist, she encountered a young man who was busy typing up something in to his computer. He was completely engrossed in what he was doing that it took Mackenzie a couple of minutes before he finally pried his eyes from his computer monitor and flashed her a genuine dimpled smile. 

"Good day!" he greeted with a jolly crescendo in his voice, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. What can I do for you?" his dimpled smile was still in tact and Mackenzie thought of him as cute, for a man of his age of course (and exactly how old he was she doesn't know nor does she care really). 

"Hi," Mackenzie smiled, "I'm Mackenzie Jones. Helene paged me to see her right away," she explained. 

"Oh yeah, Helene said to just let you proceed as soon as you get here. Her office is the first one to your right once you passed the partition," he directed her. 

"Thanks," she smiled and pushed herself away from the reception desk. 

"Anytime."

Mackenzie followed the receptionist's direction and soon found herself standing on the other side of a smoked glass door with a placard bearing the name _Helene Peters, Personal Assistant and Head of Administration_ engraved in white lettering against the black name plate. She knocked once and waited, finally she was asked to come in and she pushed the door slowly. 

"Ah, Mackenzie," Helene Peters put down the sheet of paper she was reading and smiled up at the newest member of their company, "Please, come in," she beckoned. 

Mackenzie entered the well-lit room (she had a floor-to-ceiling window with the blinds were open to let in the light from the early afternoon soon drift through the slats of the cream coloured vertical blinds) and closed the door after her. She gnawed on her lower lip as she took a few steps and stopped right in front of Helene Peters' desk.

"Uh…you wished you see me, Helene?" her voice was a bit shaky and she mentally scolded herself for losing her cool. _You aren't going to be sacked so just keep it cool!_ her conscience scolded her, reassuring her that she wouldn't be facing unemployment soon after she started at her new job! 

"Yes, I did. Please, have a seat," she pointed to one of the two vacant armchairs in front of her desk and waited for Mackenzie to use either one of them. She noted the worried look on her newest secretary's face and decided that she better assure Mackenzie that her job wasn't at stake here. 

"Mackenzie, I know you just started today at LDM, and from the reports I got regarding your performance so far, they are all good," Helene began. 

Mackenzie felt relieved. _I'm not going to get sacked,_ she thought and smiled more confidently at Helene. She sat more comfortably on the armchair across from the head PA. 

"However," Helene continued and Mackenzie's smile froze on her face. Damn that damning word! Whoever invented that word 'however' should be shot! It was a killer word to use. A person's hope gets up, and then _however_ crashes it back down to the ground! It was _really_ annoying! 

"H-however?" Mackenzie's voice nearly came out as a squeak. 

"Yes," Helene nodded, "When I hired you, I didn't explain to you about our other office protocol," she began. "Every so often our CEO travels out of the country to fix some problems we have with our consumers. Now, it's not common for him to go and see through _three_ consumers' complaints at once, but unfortunately that is the case this time," she paused in her monologue and watched Mackenzie carefully. 

Mackenzie sat on her chair with a confused look marring her smooth forehead. She was trying to figure out what this had to do with her being summoned up here. 

"Our CEO requested to have a secretary accompany him on this trip to help put his affairs in order," Helene continued. 

"And I come in to the picture _how?_" she couldn't help herself from asking although she already had a gut-feeling about what Helene was going to say next. 

"Out of all our candidates, _you're_ the only person I could see that fits the bill perfectly. None of the other girls would be able to leave the country on such short notice without having to worry about their family and their children and whatnot." 

"On short notice?" Mackenzie echoed, "Just how short _is_ short notice?" 

Helene smiled, "You're leaving tomorrow morning to accompany our company CEO to Canada," she announced. 

"What?" Mackenzie blanched. She wasn't expecting the short notice to be less than 24 hours short!

Helene gave her an apologetic smile, "You're the only one I could think of that will be able to take off from here without a snitch. You're single, lives on your own, and you don't have any pets to worry about as well—not that pets were ever a problem to some of our staff before, but this time…well, this is crunch-time, Mackenzie," she practically pleaded with Mackenzie when she saw the look on the brunette's face. It was a cross between saying no and saying yes.

"H-have you ever imposed such notice on any one before?" Mackenzie asked when she finally found some form of coherent thought and asked the first question that formed in her somewhat messed-up mind.

"Yes, once a few years back," Helene nodded.

Mackenzie was still a bit apprehensive.

"You will be _fully_ compensated for whatever inconvenience this might take on you, Mackenzie. I, as well as the company CEO, am aware that asking a person to just up and leave at the drop of a hat wasn't easy. When you return from the trip you will be given five days leave of absence _with_ pay to make up for you working all through the weekend," she bargained with her.

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**PhoenixRae's thank-yous:**

**Nikki:** I know when I first started writing this story it'll be weird to find Draco working in the muggle world that was why _Mackenzie_ was having an inner battle with herself that he couldn't be the man she got in to the elevator with

**Auroralexis:** hehehe, you guessed right! 


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